Policy Launch – A Place at The Table

The Landworkers’ Alliance are launching our post-Brexit policy recommendations outside Defra’s offices -17 Smith Square, London – at 1.00pm on Friday 21st April. Featuring a dining table promoting the high-quality fresh produce of our members, the launch highlights the need for small-scale and family farmers to be offered a ‘place at the table’ in upcoming negotiations over the future of UK agriculture policy.

The launch will feature the release of our comprehensive 20-page report outlining the LWA’s key policy proposals for re-orientating agricultural support to deliver high quality food to UK consumers while building an environmentally, socially and economically resilient farming industry.

Ed Hamer, LWA policy spokesperson, says ‘The Landworkers’ Alliance has been campaigning for the past five years for greater recognition of the role small-scale and family farmers play in feeding the country. The UK’s exit from the Common Agricultural Policy provides the most significant opportunity in a generation to reverse the inequalities of area-based payments and replace them with a truly progressive policy framework that genuinely supports more farmers and better food.’

‘As we leave Europe and the opacity of the CAP behind we’re confident that UK taxpayers will no longer tolerate farmers being paid simply for owning land. We believe the farm support budget could be targeted much more effectively in providing the research and infrastructure necessary to enable farmers to supply quality produce to local markets. This model does not depend on UK consumers paying more for high quality local food – it does however depend on more effective regulation of the industry to ensure farmers receive a greater share of the food pound.’